Seder 2: Psalm 102---Lament and Hope in a Time of Exile

 Psalm 102 is traditionally classified as one of the "penitential psalms."  It is an individual lament coming from a situation of exile. 

In his prayer, the psalmist contrasts the suffering and transtory nature of human life with the eternal rule and unchangeable nature of the God of Israel. He has confidence that God will restore Israel, as he has promised, and looks forward to the time of restoration.  

Like Psalm 104, Psalm 102 is featured in the scripture chain of Hebrews 1:5-13.  Verses 25-27 of Psalm 102 are quoted in verses 10-12 of Hebrews 1.  The writer of Hebrews identifies Ps 102:25-27 as words spoken by God the Father to Jesus the Son.  That reading of Psalm 102:25-27 gives further affirmation of the role of the pre-existent Christ in the creation of the universe.

Seder 1: Psalm 104---A Psalm of Creation

 Commentator Willem Van Gemeren calls Psalm 104 a "descriptive song of praise."  It presents beautiful pictures of Go's greatness as Creator of all.  

There are a number of connections between Psalm 104 and the book of Genesis.  Verses 6-9 are related to the third day of creation from Genesis 1.  Verse 9 refers to the covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:  "You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth."

Verse 19 refers back to Genesis 1:14 and the roles of the heavenly bodies in helping define a worship calendar and setting up an orderly structure for the activities of life: "He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting." 

Creation as pictured in Psalm 104 is not a one-time event, bur rather an ongoing process.  God sustains and renews life, and he may also choose to take it away.  

The psalm ends in verse 35 with a prayer that all creation would be submitted to God: "Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more!"  In the midrash on Psalm 104, the sages assert that this is a prayer for all to repent and cease from sin.  When that occurs, they say, everyone will praise God as at the close of verse 35.  

Much of Psalm 104 addresses God in second person.  There is some shifts, though, in vv 3-5 and verse 19 from second person to third person.  Some early Christian interpreters viewed these shifts as places where God the Father speaks about the Son.  We see this in Hebrews 1:7, where the author quotes Psalm 104:4 as an example of the Father speaking of Jesus' superiority over the angels. Psalm 104:4, according to Hebrews 1:7, has God saying that Jesus "makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."

There are traditions about the creation of special "wind angels" and "fire angels," and about God changing angels to wind or fire according to his will.  Hebrews 1:7 implies that the Son has authority over the angels.  

 Early Christians identified several passages in the Tanakh in which members of the Godhead speak about or address each other.  This kind of interpretation is known as prosopological exegesis and has been the subject of some recent research, for example by Matthew Bates, Kyle Hughes, and Madison Pierce.  

Seder 1: Colossians 1---Messiah the Creator

Colossae was a town in the Lycus Valley of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), near the bigger cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.  There was a significant Jewish population in the region, as evidenced by the fact that Laodicea was a collection point for the Temple tax.  

We may know more about the background and timing of Paul's epistle to the Colossians when more archaeological work has been done there.  A Turkish university has done a survey preparing for a dig which they hope to begin soon.  

One main question involves an earthquake that hit the region in the early 60s AD, causing major damage.  Paul's letter does not mention the earthquake directly.  Some commentators---e.g., Michael Bird---suggest that Paul wrote the letter in the late 50s AD before the earthquake.  Others suggest that Paul uses some architectural language in the letter that may indirectly refer to the earthquake.  

Paul was imprisoned when he wrote Colossians and Philemon, and there are questions about when and where he was detained.  Bird weighs arguments for the Roman imprisonment of Acts 28 and for a possible earlier imprisonment in Ephesus, coming down on the side of the latter.

Paul wrote to counter a problematic teaching that may have been popular in the local synagogue community.  Scholars have tried to reconstruct what this teaching might have been from the hints we get in the letter.  Perhaps some were advocating a regimen of ascetic practices that were meant to lead to visions that involved worshiping God with the angels (based on 2:18).  Whatever this teaching was, Paul urged the Colossians not to become preoccupied with it, but instead to put their focus on the risen Messiah.  

The Christian congregation(s) at Colossae apparently had been planted by Epaphras (1:7), one of Paul's coworkers.  Another purpose of the letter may be support Epaphras' leadership there.

Paul expresses thanks for the faithfulness and love that the Colossians are known to have, grounded in their trust in Jesus, who they anticipated would reward them at his return (1:3-5).  Paul wants them to understand that their little group is part of a much larger movement that is "bearing fruit and increasing" (v 6).  The phrase "bearing fruit and increasing" is an allusion to the "be fruitful and multiply" of Genesis 1:28.  They were part of a new creation begun by a second Adam.  Bird suggests that Paul also may have in mind here the prophecy of Isaiah 27:6:  "In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whold world with fruit."

Paul next turns from thanksgiving to intercession, praying that the Colossians will have life-changing knowledge, wisdom, and understanding through the Holy Spirit.  Paul says that God has qualified them to "share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (v. 12).  Given the apparent interest in angels in Colossae, Bird suggests that the "saints" in this verse may be angelid beings.  

In Colossians 1:15-20, Paul may be quoting (and perhaps building upon) an existing Christian confession hymn.  There are other New Testament passages that may also fall into this category---Phil 2:6-11; 1 Co 8:6;1 Pe 2:21-24.  

In any case, he makes a number of remarkable affirmations about Jesus, who is 

• the creator, sustainer, and ruler of all things.  
• a second Adam.
• the firstfruits of a great spiritual harvest. 
• head of the church.

Theologically speaking, everything can be divided into two categories, the Creator and the creation.  God rules over everything because he created everything.  By placing Jesus in the "creator" category, Paul makes a strong assertion that Jesus is God.  

Colossians 1, of course, is not the only passage that makes such statements about Jesus.  John 1, Philippians 2, Hebrews 1:1-3, and 1 Cor 8:6 are others.  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on October 14, 2023, Kyle Kettering reflected on this theological truth, emphasizing that our purpose is to yield to God as Creator and Ruler, and to manifest and magnify his sovereignty.  

Seder 18: Another Messianic Connection in Psalm 110---verse 3b

The Old Testament chapter most often referenced in the New Testament is Psalm 110.  The New Testament references are to verse 1 (about the position of David's Lord on the divine throne at God's right hand) and verse 4 (about the special priesthood of David's Lord patterned after that of Melchizedek).

Verse 3b also adds to the Messianic import of the psalm.  In the ESV, translated from the Masoretic Text, it reads: "from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours."

It's not clear at all what this means.  But the Septuagint has a definite Messianic thrust:  "From the womb, before the morning star, I brought you forth."  This translation seems to imply that David's Lord is a Son of God with ancient origins.

On the importance of the Septuagint in bringing out the full Messianic implications of the Old Testament, a good source is Michael Rydelnik's book The Messianic Hope.  In connection with Ps 110:3b, Rydelnik notes that some scholars believe the Masoretes arranged the vowel pointing in order to obscure the messianic implications of the verse.

At any rate, in the Hebrew consonantal text, there is an important word link between Ps 110:3b and Psalm 2:7:  "The LORD said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.' "  This verse identifies the Davidic Messiah as a unique Son of God.  The word for "begotten" is common to Psalm 2:7 and Psalm 110:3.

We see a pairing of Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 in some New Testament passages---in Heb 1:5,13; Heb 5:5-6.  There is further evidence in Luke 22:69-70 that this connection was part of Jewish understanding in the days of Jesus.  For more discussion, see the paper "Hebrew-Only Exegesis:  A Philological Approach to Jesus' Use of the Hebrew Bible," by R. Steven Notley and Jeffrey P. Garcia, pp 349-376 in The Language Environment of First Century Judaea, Brill, 2014.

Ps 110:3b, as translated in the Septuagint, was important to early Christians.  For example, Justin Martyr used it to argue in Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 63, "does not this declare to you that [he was] from of old, and that the God and Father of all things intended for him to be begotten by a human womb?"

Seder 14: Psalm 2--A Royal Psalm of Hope

Psalm 2 is a royal psalm that affirms the Davidic covenant and looks forward to the reign of the Messiah, the ultimate Davidic king.  This Psalm is attributed to David in Acts 4:25.

The psalm begins by picturing vain attempts of the nations to oppose God and his anointed king (opposition to one means opposition to the other).  "Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?", verse 1 asks.  The word for "plot" is from the same root as "meditate".  Psalm 1:2 says that the wise meditate on God's instruction.  Psalm 2:1 says that the foolish meditate on how to oppose God.

Such opposition to God is fruitless.  God rules the whole universe, and he is also keeping close track of what is happening on earth and dealing with these events through the king of Israel (vv 4-6).

When that king is anointed and installed in office, he is raised in stature, authorized and empowered to act as God's representative.  As in Sam 7:14, the Davidic king is considered a son of God.

The Messiah, the ultimate king of Israel, will rule over all nations (vv 7-9).  The nations are therefore advised to submit to God and his appointed king (vv 10-12).

This psalm has long been a source of hope to the people of God, and in particular to the first disciples of Jesus.  Here are some important examples of the ways Psalm 2 is used in the New Testament:

(1) In the early days of Christianity the apostles Peter and John were arrested by the Sadducees for preaching the Gospel and brought before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4). After giving a powerful witness, they were given a warning and released.  The early Christ-followers then prayed Psalm 2:1-2.  As they saw it, this psalm predicted that they would face opposition, but that the Kingdom of God under Jesus the Messiah would prevail (vv 23-31).

Today we can continue to pray this way for and with the persecuted church.

(2) When Jesus was baptized, a heavenly voice quoted Psalm 2:7 (Mark 1:9-11).  In effect, Jesus was being anointed with the Holy Spirit as King of the Kingdom of God, which was then breaking into the world.  A heavenly voice again quoted Psalm 2:7 at the Transfiguration (Lk 9:35).

(3) Hebrews 1:5 identifies Psalm 2:7 as one example of passages in the Hebrew scriptures where God is speaking to Jesus the Messiah and showing that Jesus is superior to the angels:

"For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my Son' today I have begotten you' ?"

Indeed, angels are referred to in the Bible as sons of God (Gen 6:2; Job 38:7), but Psalm 2:7 singles out the Messiah as a unique son of God.

(4) The book of Revelation pictures Jesus ultimately ruling the earth "with a rod of iron"--Rev 12:5; 19:11-15.  He tells the church at Thyatira that those who overcome will rule with him (Rev 2:26-27).

In the MT, Psalm 2:9 says, "You will break them with a rod of iron", while the LXX says, "You will shepherd them with a rod of iron."  The rule of the Messiah is both powerful and gentle.

Seder 12: The Mysterious Melchizedek

At Abram's triumphant return from his victory over the eastern invaders, he was met by Melchizedek, who was both king of Salem and "priest of God Most High."  Melchizedek blessed both Abram and God Most High and provided food and drink for Abram's men.  Abram expressed his thanks to God by giving to Melchizedek a tenth of the wealth that he had brought back (Gen 14:18-20).

It is generally agreed that Salem in Gen 14:18 is another name for Jerusalem.  We see this name used, for example, in Ps 76:2.  Also, there was later a ruler of Jerusalem with the name Adoni-zedek, a name very similar to Melchizedek (Joshua 10).

Despite the similarity of their names, Adoni-zedek did not have the connection with God Most High that Melchizedek had had.  In fact, Adoni-Zedek organized a coalition to oppose Israel's ally Gibeon and was later executed by Joshua. 

Adoni-zedek translates to something like "my lord is Zedek" or "my lord is righteous."  Since Adoni-zedek was a king, his lord may well have been a deity.  Scholars believe that there was a Canaanite deity named Zedek who was considered to be a champion of righteousness.  (For further discussion, check out episodes 166-167 of the Naked Bible Podcast).

Melchizedek translates to "my king is Zedek" or "my king is righteous."  In Melchizedek's case, his king was apparently God Most High, and he may have known God as "the righteous one."

Gen 14:18-20 tells us just enough to arouse our curiosity.  Here was an early Canaanite king of Jerusalem who was also acknowledged by Abram as a priest of the true God.  Josephus (at the end of War 6) would later write that Melchizedek was the founder of Jerusalem and served at a temple there.

Melchizedek is mentioned once more in the Old Testament, in Ps 110:4.  In Psalm 110 David records words spoken by God to someone he refers to as "my lord".  Jesus would later identify David's lord as the promised Messiah (Matt 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44) and used Psalm 110 to explain to the sages of his day that the Messiah was much more than just a human descendant of David.  Hebrews 1:13 cites Ps 110:1 as one of a number of instances in the Psalms in which God is addressing Jesus the Messiah.

In Ps 110:4, the LORD, still addressing David's lord, says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

It is interesting to consider how David might have thought about Ps 110:4.  It may be that after David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he thought of himself as following in the footsteps of Melchizedek.  For example, during the celebration that accompanied the bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David king of Salem  took on a kind of priestly role and "blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins (1 Chron 16:2-3).

The author of the book of Hebrews builds on Ps 110:4 in Heb 5,7 to bring out what it means for the Messiah to be a priest "according to the order of Melchizedek".  He argues that Melchizedek's priesthood didn't depend on Melchizedek's ancestry. Melchizedek was a priest of God because God said that he was.  The Bible says nothing about his ancestry, or about anyone succeeding him in his priesthood.  So Jesus, even though he was from the tribe of Judah rather than the priestly tribe of Levi, could be this type of priest---again, because God proclaimed him to be in Ps 110:4.

Furthermore, the author of Hebrews argues that Melchizedek comes before Levi, so his priesthood is in fact superior to the Levitical priesthood.  This kind of priesthood is therefore appropriate for the Messiah.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 6, 2020, David Waddle reflected further on this subject.

Seder 11: Psalm 33---Singing a New Song

Psalm 33 is a song of community praise for both past and present manifestations of God's love.  It may have been used originally in congregational singing at the fall festivals of Israel.

At the start of this psalm the righteous and upright (those submitted to God who trust in his love and deliverance) are exhorted to "shout for joy in the LORD".

The congregation rejoices in the fact that God's word and works and faithful and true and show his love (vv. 4-5).

Specifically, they praise God's work of creation through his word, both his spoken word and the incarnate Word (John 1, Heb 1:1-3).  They praise God's omniscience and omnipotence, and his care for his covenant people.

Psalm 33 calls upon the congregation to "sing to him a new song" (v 3).  The words of the psalm are familiar, but their praise is renewed by their fresh experience of God's love.  At the end of the psalm, the congregation prays that God's love toward them will continue, as it always has (vv 20-22).

Seder 10: Psalm 45---A Royal Wedding Psalm

Psalm 45 falls into the category of "royal psalms", psalms connected to the kings of Israel.  Traditionally, many references to the Messiah, the ultimate Davidic king, have been seen in the royal psalms, and that is true of this one in particular.

The occasion for Psalm 45 seems to have been a royal wedding.  The psalm speaks to both the king (vv 2-9) and his bride (vv 10-15), reminding them of the special privileges and responsibilities that go with occupying the throne of David.

To the king, the psalmist declares that "God has blessed you forever," a reference to the Davidic covenant (2 Sam 7:16).  The king will be successful in battle as long as he is fighting for the cause of "truth and meekness and righteousness."  In meekness he should rely on God, the true King.

The message to the king points to an ideal of what the king of Israel should be.  The king is God's representative on earth, and he should be carrying out God's will, upholding righteousness (vv 6-7).

The bride is apparently from another nation, and the psalm instructs her to "forget your people and your father's house" (v 10), to follow the example of Abraham and Ruth.

The psalm concludes with God's promise that "I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever" (v 17).  This is a reaffirmation of God's promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

This psalm can also be read in reference to the Messiah. What is an ideal for a human king is a description of the Messiah. This psalm is quoted in Heb 1:8-9 as part of a chain of scriptures that the author of Hebrews claims are statements made by God the Father about Jesus the Son.  Specifically, Hebrews 1 quotes Ps 45:6-7:

"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.  The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Early Christians noticed two divine figures in these verses, the God being addressed in verse 6 and the God who anoints that first God in verse 7.  They recognized this passage as an affirmation of the deity of Jesus.

If verses 2-9 of the Psalm can be seen as words about Christ, verses 10-11 can be seen as words about the Bride of Christ.  Like Abraham, Ruth, and the queen, Christians are called to be loyal first to the King and to submit to Him.